The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
A typical multiple speed transmission having countershafts and coplanar gear sets uses countershaft gears with a different, dedicated gear pair or set to achieve each forward speed ratio. Accordingly, the total number of gears required in this typical design is two times the number of forward speeds, plus three for reverse. This necessitates a large number of required gear pairs and high rotating inertias, especially in transmissions that have a relatively large number of forward speed ratios.
While current transmissions achieve their intended purpose, the need for new and improved transmission configurations which exhibit improved performance, especially from the standpoints of efficiency, responsiveness and smoothness and improved packaging, primarily reduced size and weight, is essentially constant. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a transmission having improved packaging and improved efficiency while providing desirable gear ratios and torque ranges.